~James~

I watch Melanie look at Ethan sink a bag into the cornhole, and tighten my grip on the cue stick.

"Who wants to break up the rack?" Bianca asks.

"I will!" Charlie volunteers.

He strikes the triangle of pool balls, and we all watch them scatter about the table.

"I'll let you hit first to decide what balls are ours," Melanie says to me.

I let out a breath. It's just pool. I've played it before. Just aim and hit the ball, then pray it goes in a hole. I got this. I attempt to do just that and miss even connecting the stick with the ball.

~~~

~Melanie~

"How did I not know you suck at pool?" I ask James after watching his many failed attempts.

James shrugs. "We've never played together before, and, like, I don't play a lot."

"But Bianca and Charlie are destroying us! I always win at this." I pout.

"Maybe you should ask Ethan to step in," Kara suggests while watching the game, still slowly sipping her only beer of the night, which is probably a gross room temperature at this point.

I look near the garage's front entrance, where Ethan is playing cornhole with Sean against Marisa and Kevin with Graham on the sidelines watching their game.

"Do you mind?" I bite my lip as I look at James.

James hesitates before shrugging. I look over at Ethan as my heart picks up pace. I'm not going to lose to Bianca and Charlie. I'll never hear the end of it!

"Are you any good at cornhole, at least?" I ask James.

James rolls his eyes and sighs, "Yes."

"Hey, Ethan!" Kara calls. "Switch places with James. He sucks at pool. Don't worry, though, Sean. He's good at cornhole."

I try not to laugh at Kara's bluntness.

"They can't just swap teammates!" Charlie says.

Bianca shrugs, "It's fine with me. We're going to kick their asses, anyway."

Ethan looks up at Kara, then toward me. I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from saying anything stupid. I look away quickly and set my beer down on the wooden counter behind me. I've had too much to drink. Why else would my palms be sweating and my stomach doing laps?

Ethan walks over, trying to hide his stupid grin but fails. When he reaches me, he hip-checks me, pushing me into the counter. I scoff as I rub my hip in pain. When I look back at James, he's already playing cornhole and talking to Sean and Graham.

"Ready for us to kick your asses?" Ethan asks Bianca and Charlie.

Charlie grins, "Highly unlikely."

Bianca crosses her arms across her chest, "Yeah, okay. We only have two striped balls left and then the eight ball. You guys still have six solids left!"

"Not for long," Ethan says with a smirk in my direction.

I chuckle, trying to figure out if I'm nervous or excited to demolish Bianca and Charlie with Ethan.

Ethan sinks the solid red ball, then the solid green ball.

"Woo!" Kara and I cheer as Charlie grumbles, getting ready for his turn.

He misses the striped yellow ball while I'm already leaning forward against the table, aiming my shot up.

Ethan leans close to me until I can feel his hot breath against my ear and his body lightly against the back of mine. "Aim for the blue, and you could get the purple in one go."

I nod as I wipe my sweaty palms against my jean shorts and try to ignore Ethan's proximity to my sticky, sweaty body. I try to aim for the blue, so the purple lines up right behind it with the back-corner hole in mind.

I slow my breath down as I inch the cue stick forward, then back a few times, making sure my lines are perfect before I hit it forcefully. The blue ball rolls quickly away from me and crashes right into the purple ball, allowing both to roll right into the back-corner hole. In about one second, both balls fall in.

I jump up and down, then turn to Ethan and hug him. I breathe him in, and a nostalgic smile crosses my face. He still smells like pine and soap.

I let go first, and he takes a second before unwrapping his arms around my waist. I look up at him and see him blushing. I can feel my face growing hot.

"It's so weird hugging you now that you're tall," I say, trying to diffuse the awkward feeling suddenly in the room.

Everyone around us laughs. I laugh along with them as I look up into Ethan's eyes, and then my laughter falters. He's not laughing but instead looking at me with furrowed eyebrows and a goofy smile. My face heats up again as I force myself to look away. He's never looked at me like that before...

Ethan clears his throat, then looks at Bianca, "Well, are you gonna go?"

~~~